Hans Jeschonnek

Hans Jeschonnek (9 April 1899-18 August 1943) was Chief of the General Staff of the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany from 1 February 1939 to 18 August 1943, succeeding Hans-Jurgen Stumpff and preceding Gunther Korten.

Biography
Hans Jeschonnek was born on 9 April 1899 in Hohensalza, Province of Posen, German Empire (present-day Inowroclaw, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland). In 1914 he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Imperial German Air Force and fought in World War I, having two enemy kills during the war. Jeschonnek helped the Reichswehr in putting down the Silesian Uprisings after the war, and he rose through the ranks of the new Luftwaffe air force of Nazi Germany in the Interwar Years. On 1 February 1939 he became its Chief of the General Staff, and he commanded the Luftwaffe during its operations in the invasion of Poland in 1939, the Battle of France in 1940, and the Battle of Britain and Operation Barbarossa in 1941. On 17-18 August 1943, he accidentally ordered Berlin's air defenses to shoot 200 German fighters while believing that they were Allied planes, and he shot himself at Adolf Hitler's Wolf's Lair headquarters in East Prussia out of guilt. Gunther Korten replaced him as the new Chief of the General Staff after his suicide.